Neel Rayani, right, EJ Torres and Russell Martin at the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office. Credit: Courtesy of Nightwave AI
At 3 a.m. in February, most of Ohio State’s campus is quiet.
Yet inside a dark room in Busch Hall, roommates Neel Rayani and EJ Torres stared at glowing computer screens, fueled by determination and cans of Celsius. In just a few hours, they will present a company they built in their dorm to Delaware County law enforcement officials.?
Its name is Nightwave AI.??
The AI tool helps police organize and analyze information within a case. Officers have the opportunity to upload reports, interview notes, license plate records, phone logs and videos, and the tool will organize it and point out connections or possible leads.
The process, which originally took hours, can now be done in minutes.?
The idea for Nightwave AI began in July, when Rayani, a second-year in computer science and engineering, said he started thinking about how AI could be applied to public safety. He said he was specifically motivated by national clearance rates, noting that roughly 40% of murders in the United States go unsolved.
“[Declining clearance rates] just didn’t really make sense to me,” Rayani said. “There’s definitely something we can do about this.”
Torres, also a second-year in computer science and engineering, said they spent months developing the system, often staying up late to write code, test features and fix bugs.?
Rayani said the software is designed to sift through large amounts of investigative data from sources such as body camera footage, surveillance video, social media and jail phone calls.
In August, Rayani officially launched the company with the help of Torres, who now serves as the company’s COO.?
By late September, the roommates said they had built a landing page and begun reaching out to police departments. Rayani and Torres said they initially assumed agencies would want to adopt advanced AI tools, but emails often went unanswered. Rayani said departments had strict cybersecurity reviews and approval processes for new technology, slowing early conversations.
Rayani said many investigators and departments have never worked with technology like this before. The team initially built the system to be as advanced as possible, but quickly realized it was too complicated for investigators. They said they simplified the software and rebuilt parts of it so it could work with the tools police departments already use.?
Rayani said it took about three months before the program became usable.?
The roommates said that gaining the trust of law enforcement agencies for a tool developed by two college students required far more than just a pitch — it required credibility. That led them to approach recently retired Russell Martin, former sheriff of Delaware County.?
“When I was contacted about consulting with them, I didn’t know either one of them,” Martin said.?
Martin asked two questions: “Why do you want to do this? and “What’s your motivation?”
Martin said that Rayani and Torres emphasized the importance of helping law enforcement and making communities safer.?
“They seemed so sincere that, at that point, I was in,” Martin said.
Martin said modern investigations produce massive amounts of data, and all of it needs to be reviewed.?
“Whether it’s video, license plate information, interviews or phone calls, we need to have tools that can save man-hours,” Martin said. “If AI is able to review things at a quicker rate and make recommendations, I think the potential is huge there to assist law enforcement.”
With Martin’s guidance, Rayani and Torres said Nightwave AI secured a memorandum of understanding with the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office and began testing the software on cold cases as part of a pilot program.
After 30 days, the pilot could turn into a full contract worth between $50,000 and $100,000 annually, according to Rayani and Torres. They said they are also working toward potential state and federal partnerships and have approached the FBI about integrating Nightwave AI into larger investigations.
The program’s value, however, transcends money.?
“Best-case scenario for us is if it could fully solve some cold case from 20 years ago that no one else was able to solve,” Rayani said.
